Insanity: Apple Rejects Podcatching App Because It Has Flattr Integration

from the cutting-off-your-nose dept

Fri, Jun 1st 2012 3:10am — Mike Masnick

One purpose for which micropayment solution Flattr (which we use here on Techdirt) has certainly caught on is providing a way for people to support podcasts. Apparently, simple integration allowing people to designate some money for podcasters has just "felt right" for lots of users who do exactly that. And some podcasting/podcatching apps have tried to accommodate this. Instacast, a popular app for downloading and listening to podcasts on the iOS platform, integrated Flattr back in February, but in early May the arbitrary gatekeepers at Apple rejected the app because the Flattr integration went against Apple's demands that all in-app payments go through its own system. Vemedio (the makers of Instacast) along with the folks at Flattr appealed to Apple that this was ridiculous... but Apple issued a final decision rejecting the app. In response, Vemedio is very reluctantly removing Flattr from its app, meaning podcasters just lost a good way of making money, all because Apple can't control it. More evidence of Apple becoming a rather evil gatekeeper, rather than an enabler of new and interesting ideas.

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Filed Under: apps, gatekeeper, instacast, micropayments, podcasting, podcatching, walled garden
Companies: apple, flattr, vemedio

70 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 3:17am

As if we need another reason to avoid Apple's walled garden.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 3:42am

I am soooo surprised.... /s
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Josef Anvil (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 3:50am

Hmmm
While I have to say that I am a huge fan of my Macbook Pro and my iPod Touch, I have absolutely no desire to get an iPhone.

It would appear that Apple is doing everything in it's power to built the Android market. I don't think they see that the smartphone market is evolving past the iPhone.

Samsung Note, anyone?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 3:55am

Am sick of saying this. Won't even bother with an explanation.
Apple sucks. Cant see it ? here are some magic beans ...$500
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mah, 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:10am

Apple is a CULT
Everybody can see it .... except for the cult members.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:24am

So what is Apple offering so people can give to podcasters they like?
No really.
What magical Apple idea is going to be the next Flattr?
How much of a cut will they be taking?

At what point is a walled garden anti-competitive enough that someone asks why with a warrant?

Apple demanding freaky control on their platform, MS trying to screw consumers out of trying anything new with their secure boot crap... at what point do we finally get someone with the power to ask them to explain themselves and point out how bad these ideas actually are.
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Ninja (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:28am

I say they should take 3 approaches to this problem:

1- Make it available on Cydia. And it's amusing iGadgets seem to be far more useful when they are taken outside of Apple's control.

2- Sue Apple. From my understanding Flattr is COMPLETELY outside of the app control, they just integrate the "flattr" button (ie, the ability of using it in the app, which requires just logging in to your account previously loaded with money).

3- Go Android if they haven't already. Srsly.
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Ninja (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:33am

Re:
Hopefully this level of control will boost Linux and it becomes the demise of those idiots. Now if only the Linuxtards out there stopped being so egocentric and made Linux distros for the mainstream users... To be fair it has greatly improved from the first version with a gui I tried (what was it, Slackware 3.0 or something with kde?).
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:41am

Re: Re:
It's been a while since I've installed it, but isn't the Mint distro specifically designed for Windows users transitioning to Linux?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:43am

Re:
at what point do we finally get someone with the power to ask them to explain themselves and point out how bad these ideas actually are.

Another example how a failed, closed system business model is destroyed by the open market. Oh, wait...
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:55am

Re: Re:
Fedora caved and bought a key to the party...
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Ninja (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 4:57am

Re: Re: Re:
Thanks for the tip. Wonder if Mint has some easy wine configuration? I personally like Ubuntu but I dropped it because most applications I use (read "games") don't run on Linux without some advanced wine knowledge =(
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ethorad (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:05am

Re:
Quite ... when has apple ever been anything other than a gatekeeper?
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ethorad (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:07am

Re:
4- make it a web app
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:09am

Re:
1 - One wonders what the backlash from Apple is against devs who want to keep playing in the walled garden and the evil jailbreak world.

2 - but its money and Apple has rules about money, it all belongs to Apple. And I am sure their well paid lawyers included some legalese in a contract next to the clause where Apple gets your first born child that you can't actually sue them, an apple paid arbitrator will phone in your loss of the case shortly.

3 - The problem is there are so many ithingy users. It is a larger market. There was a blurb somewhere about 1 android dev who looked at all the different things using their software. Android is fragmented in a huge way, and trying to tweak to fix problem a for a Samsung device can break something on tablets or vice versa. Much of it is Google not being able to demand that everyone run the stock rom like Apple does.
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fogbugzd (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:11am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Mint is an easy installation for a lot of people. Ubuntu and a lot of other distributions will not install drivers and plugins unless they are purely open source. Users have to install these themselves after installation. The process isn't particularly hard for an experienced Linux user, but the decision to maintain religious purity on Open Source makes life difficult for a lot of people.

Mint takes a pragmatic approach and incorporates the software you need. You still get access to the rich Ubuntu repositories, but without having to live by the strict dogma of the Open Source high priesthood. I recommend Mint for all new Linux users.
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John Doe, 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:12am

The problem with building on other people's platform
This is the problem with building on other people's platform, you don't actually control your business, the platform does. Unfortunately not everyone can nuild a platform. Would be nice to see a true open source platform.
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fogbugzd (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:13am

This type of short-sighted thinking is the reason why Apple can make excellent products and still keep loosing market share.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:15am

'Apple becoming a rather evil gatekeeper'

wasn't aware of Apple being anything but. no different to the entertainment industries. as soon as there is a possibility of them not getting any money, for doing nothing, they close stuff down! not bad for a company that is supposed to encourage innovation in the digital age, is it? pure greed!!
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:24am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
As much as I enjoy Linux, if you're looking for a platform to play new, higher end games on, you should probably stick with Windows.

WINE is good, but like you suggest, it can take a fair bit of tinkering to get things to work, and even then there is usually a performance hit.

You can always dual boot, or buy a console.
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PaulT (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:28am

Re: Re:
"Now if only the Linuxtards out there stopped being so egocentric and made Linux distros for the mainstream users..."

Have you actually tried a recent distro like Ubuntu or Mint that are actually aimed at the desktop user (most of these for example: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major)?

Either do so, or I'd be intrigued to see you explain how the most popular distros are developed by "Linuxtards" who don't bother doing what these projects are specifically designed to do...
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fairusefriendly (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:39am

shouldn't anti trust laws apply to this action given the market place dominance iTunes has over other apps marketplace.
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KingofDarkness, 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:44am

Re: Apple is a CULT
Don't forget the less than tech savvy generations that like the iPhone because it requires no understanding of anything beyond picture menus. Anyone who seriously loves tech has to seriously hate the iPhone. Even when it is jailbroke it is still a hunk of crap. The one thing positive I can say about it is that the display is pretty, the rest sucks. Hopefully with Jobs gone the rest of the ivory tower that is Apple will come down as well.
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Ninja (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:54am

Re: Re: Re:
Yes, I've used Ubuntu on dual boot till recently. Actually My desktop looked way more awesome than your regular Windows Aero (which M$ copied from earlier attempts at Linux, OSx ironically). But I spent much more time under Windows environment than Linux because of the software. Companies are to blame for M$ supremacy too, they simply ignore Linux users (I do wonder if OpenGL can offer what Directx does too but that's above my computer knowledge).

And I do agree it's way better nowadays than a few years back. And the "Linuxtards" (I'm using it in a joking way, that's why I used the "") are actually doing a good job in making Linux more and more user friendly. When I think I had to use command lines to mount my CD drive back in the first distro I ever used today we are in heaven. But we need to push further for the mainstream user.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 5:57am

apple will be obsolete in 2 to 3 years and everyone will say whoooo! Come on you actually bought that crap. You like being locked in the apple box. Just remember being stuck in a barrel of apples can be a rotting experience.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
You might want to look into this project:
http://www.reactos.org/

Its a windows clone, build from scratch.
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Ninja (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:10am

Re: Re:
1- true enough, I didn't think about Apple being vengeful. Never happened before ;)

2- Marked funny for this.

3- Indeed it's an issue. There needs to be a way to easily update the core from whatever source while keeping manufacturer modifications somewhat intact. Samsung is DAMN slow to update the system. Version 2.3.3 has an annoying bug that when it triggers your battery is drained to death (gotta take it out and wait a few seconds to fully reset the bug) and it seems to be random. Samsung hasn't fixed it yet in their Android version (I'm talking about the Galaxy S). I haven't moved to a Cyanogen build yet but I will. Still, most ppl are stuck with the bugs and security issues. We need a system that is easy to update. Even if you only use what your manufacturer makes available it's no simple task to update. Still, it has a huge user base and I don't see it getting smaller in the near future and I'm sure Google will try to fix the fragmentation issue as much as possible. So it still is a good idea to go Android.
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JarHead, 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:27am

Re: Re:
I don't think the "Linuxtards" is that "egocentric" not making "mainstream" distros. IMHO the Linux, or FOSS in general, dev and release model made it hard for anyone to build a mainstream distros easily installable like windows does (dunno about MacOSX, avoid it like a plague).

Try out distros with rolling release model, like Arch or Gentoo. They expose the complexities of building a Linux system. After that, imagine what has to be done to make a "mainstream" distro.

Ubuntu, Mint, or AFAIK most Linux distros try to mitigate the problem with snapshot release model, where all related software versions are frozen and packed for the end user to install. This made installing them easier. But to keep up with the speed of FOSS dev, many snapshots are required, hence the fast moving version of those distros. Ubuntu, for example, release new version every 6 months. Problem is, there are no guarantee that the next version is compatible with the current one, so to upgrade safely we have to do full re-install. Of course there are ways to avoid full re-install when upgrading, but that's mainly for intermediate to advanced users.

So what's that solution differ from say installing a version of Windows? Well, there are long period of time between windows version. With the new policy, M$ said every 3yrs, with at least 5yrs support per version. Compare that to Ubuntu which is 6 months with 1 yrs support per version.

But again, there are people who like to do complete OS re-install every other week.
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JarHead, 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:31am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
That project still alive?

Last I heard it's goal is to clone Windows NT 4, but got bored waiting it's release. And now it's cloning XP and it's still in alpha?
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PaulT (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:39am

Re: Apple is a CULT
I wonder... If Apple is a cult, then what does that make the people who insist on attacking it and its customers in every thread that mentions them?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:45am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes, I help out from time to time. Last year the 64bit version came out. Development version mind you, but a milestone nevertheless.
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ChrisB (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:47am

Re: Hmmm
I love my phablet. Though it does look like I'm talking into a scientific calculator because it is so big.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:50am

Re: Re: Re:
The issue you bring up with Samsung being slow is also part of a marketing gimmick I bet. They keep pushing new better strong faster phones, focusing all of their work there while ignoring the last models... until later when the "average" phone buyer gets to them.

I can tell you how pleased people who bought the Asus Transformer were to find out the new model, the Prime, was getting ICS first... and it was such a PITA... and then the reason given why they had nothing for the first suckers was oh Lunar New Year celebrations slowed us down. The early adopters were stuck with some really bad bugs all of which got shoved aside to get the Prime and the newer models out the door.

Google will never be able to solve fragmentation until they get into the market with a base "Android" Platform. Average users don't get the idea of getting root and loading new roms to try out, they want a device that works. Sadly the iThingy for all of Apples evil intentions does just that. Each iThingy isn't a grand departure from the last one, where every Android device is different in some subtle way from the other guy, and then tweaked differently.

But then I am a fuddy duddy in the phone wars... Motorola Razr V3 - Black. It makes calls, that is what I want my phone to do. My backup phone is a Motorola F3.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:51am

Fugitive from Iphonia
Yes! I admit it.
I AM AN IPHONIAN.
I escaped iphonia last year and have been on the run ever since.
I asked the evil empire (AT&T) if I could use this phone without a data plan that I no longer needed. After they stopped laughing, I was scheduled for re-education and a flogging.
But I was no longer on contract and managed to escape.
In august 09 AT&T started their "all smart phones must have a data plan" policy. But they also said that If you are on service prior to that date that this policy would not apply.
EXCEPT for the iphone.
It turns out that the contract between AT&T and Apple requires a data plan so they can continue to spy on their customers.The consumer has no say in the matter.
After retirement I no longer needed or wanted a data plan,but just a phone.(I have data available on my desktop,laptop and tablet). So unless I buy into their extortion plan, this phone is useless.
Will I ever have another Apple product? AT&T?
Just as soon as I corral that unicorn I've been tracking,
you bet!
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:58am

Better headline would be "A greedy Apple rejects app for not giving them 30% of all donations".
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 6:58am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Razr V3 silver here. My iphone 3g is in the desk drawer and that's where it will stay.Whatever happened to the idea that a phone is actually used to make phone calls?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 7:13am

Why isn't this considered an antitrust violation?
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BigKeithO, 1 Jun 2012 @ 7:42am

Re:
2 to 3 years might be a little overly optimistic. I know people with iDevices that wouldn't ever switch. They just like how simple everything is (which baffles me, I think an iPhone is much less intuitive than my Android) and the app selection.

Apple is here to stay for a long while yet.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 7:43am

Re: Re: Apple is a CULT
Sane.
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 7:51am

Re: Re: Apple is a CULT
Reasonable people who feel ethically and morally disposed to rid humanity of idiocy, ignorance and its ever growing need to worship shiny things.

You did ask
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 7:59am

Re: Re: Re: Apple is a CULT
Further to your question you need to know the difference between a cult and religion.

In a cult their is a person at the top who knows it's a Scam, in a religion that person is dead.

Since the company of Apple has a current CEO/Chairperson who is not dead they are more a cult than a religion, though one could also conclude they are a quasi-religion (between the two) for obvious reasons since their major founder (who after being thrown into the wilderness by his own organisation at one stage came back from 'the dead' so to speak leading the peeps into ever more shinyness) is now deceased.

And since the followers base all their 'reasoning' on faith and not factual evidential proofs.

Therefore Quasi-religion in my Personal opinion
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Hypnosis Blogger, 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:00am

Mike... you are WRONG!
"More evidence of Apple becoming a rather evil gatekeeper..."

Mike, they became the evil gatekeeper a LONG time ago. Only Apple fan boi's keep their reputation from going completely under.

But even the Apple goosesteppers weren't able to stop the Chinese story of the way Apple products are being made by leveraging human lives.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:03am

I'll never understand why people even like apple all they did was create walled gardens.
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:07am

Re: Re: Re:
Just about to test Fedora 17 this weekend actually. Looking at the libvirt sandbox which is now included for full virtualisation so gaming might be interesting. {especially if I place it one of our hacked Ps3's )

Though I think I will take time to get used to lib, bin & sbin not hanging off / and instead off of /usr/ (ie: /usr/sbin ) blah!

http://www.h-online.com/open/features/What-s-new-in-Fedora-17-1585254.html
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:18am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ha My personal phone is a Nokia 6300. Sybian architecture ;) and yep makes calls & SMS's, even answers them when I want to.

In other words I use a UserSmart/Phone Dumb system.

For Internet I use a ----wait for it---- Laptop/Notebook! OMG.. or a real live Desktop system.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:56am

Re:
Haha, Its the Pareto Principle in action.

80% of people are followers that will follow 20% of the people who are leaders.

20% of apple users have convinced 80% of Apple users that Apple is the best option.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:58am

Re: Re:
Btw I'm mostly joking....or am I? Haha..
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Chargone (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 9:22am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
likewise. (well, different phone.)

though the desktop is for gaming, not web browsing.
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Chargone (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 9:23am

Re: Fugitive from Iphonia
i read that as Iphobian... then my brain did something weird and tried to tell me it should be Iphibian... ...

ribbit?
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 9:45am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Why did you arbitrarily choose that point to stop moving forward with progress? You could just as well claim that you use your land line to make calls and when you want knowledge, you go to the library.

Pretending that the old way is better than the new way because the old way is older is pretty much how all the big media companies think, you know.

Come to the future, my friend, we make progress there. :-)
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 9:47am

Re: Re:
You're right, but at the rate that iOS is going, it's going to be almost exactly like Android in that time. Whether they know it or not, customers *want* the Android OS on their phone, and the changes in iOS reflect that.
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MonkeyFracasJr (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 9:49am

Re: "...no guarantee that the next version is compatible... "
Ubuntu does - sort of. The LTS release versions have 5 year support windows.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS

Not exactly next version compatibility guarantee, but a guarantee that it will work for 5 years.

There is no necessity to upgrade the OS with every release.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 10:04am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I have to agree...my phone has set me free from the tether of my desktop/laptop. Even watching TV is a different experience from what it use to be thanks to web browsing on my phone.

Still use desktop for gaming, encoding, and media center type stuff, but very little else.
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 10:12am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Joe if you look at my profile you wills ee I work in the field of Digital Forensics, which means I actually use and analyse on a daily basis anywhere from the latest (had a Samsong Note the other day to look at) to the not so latest (had about 2 months ago a desktop 586 with a 120mb Maxtor drive - still going strong too which was awesome) so I am fairly up to date with current technology and even alpha (or before) technology that is covered by NDA's which I cannot talk about.

Being also a Distributor, Importer, wholesaler, and retailer of hardware in decades past I have come to one major conclusion and it's the first question I actually ask anyone who actually wants my advice on the "latest and greatest" technological wizardry.

"What do you want to do with it?" If for example they already have a dual core or even single core desktop/laptop system and they want to upgrade it to a quad i7500 with all the bells and all they are doing is accessing the net and the kids Word processing, some games (most people in Aust have consoles instead) and maybe some photo creation. I say stick to it and maybe if necessary upgrade the HDD's (or even purchase a portable HDD). Just because the newest stuff has all these things, doesn't mean it is a necessity to purchase it. the new SmartPhones and tablets are great as long as they are cost effective and you use them. Otherwise they are just a useless expense that are better served being spent on other wants and needs.

Also the old way is no different to the new, there are not many products on the market that do any different than their older counterparts. The only thing different in PC's is speed and storage space (both ROM/RAM) but if you notice the origal WP's (Wordstar, WordPerfect, PerfectWrite, Word) they are no different than today other than the bloat. In fact the older DOS/OS2/GEM ones were the same speed, and we still use the same keyboard command structures.

Progress is great, but progress needs to actually accomplish something that isn't just to show the neighbour that you have the latest shiny new toys that do exactly the same things.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 10:31am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Also the old way is no different to the new, there are not many products on the market that do any different than their older counterparts.

I don't carry a notebook in my pocket that has a cell radio in it, so i'd say that my Android phone has made progress over my laptop, not to mention my desktop. I also don't have to carry around a GPS, camera, camcorder, level, compass, calculator, game console or movie player.

In fact, I've rarely touched my computer since I got a smart phone, years ago.

I agree with you on useless "upgrades", but I think the smart phone market (whichever OS you prefer) is an actual, real upgrade from older non-smart phones.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 10:41am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I actually agree with this too. Most people over estimate how much computing power they actually need.

But I still like buying for the future and not the present. Nothing sucks more than buying a product, only to find out it won't do what I want it to a year later.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 10:43am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Agreed again. You both are making very good points.
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 11:07am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I'm not saying that Smartphones aren't great for some people, but again it's not a necessity for all at the moment.

I actually use a paper based yearly diary/organiser as well. Though it's really for legal purposes (contemporaneous notes etc are not the same as digital copies) It's a habit I have been doing for over 25yrs and probably not one I will ever stop doing. Though I do still have a calendar on my Nokia (and an electronic one I use on laptop that is synced)

For a calculator I still sometimes use my brain (was taught rote method and times tables, though for major stuff an electronic casio or computer I still use. Though HandyCalc for android I saw other month.. Damn! If I had that way back in HighSchool and UNI.. graphing, Calc, etc.. no log tables to look up! ;)

For a camera I use either a DSLR or a trusty Kodak Digital (5yr old I think) or the one on the non smartphone Nokia (3meg) but video is the DSLR. For everything else I prefer the notebook, though I can see myself going to a new touchpad and Notebook combo with swivelling screen (There are some new rugged and water-resistant ones I saw other week that look promising)

The smart phone is basically a conglomeration of other devices into one system. For those that don't require the necessity and power of separating those devices (as I do) then they are great, but when you don't require it, and really a smartphone is still a Need, not a Want then don't change what you already have place your money into other things.

I see a time when a Smartphone will be a ubiquotous device that incorporates a whole lot more than what is currently available (especially in regards to new haptic and AR technologies) though it's not here yet and the devices are not ready to allow this yet (battery life is a prime concern)

Actually while I have been writing all this, I have been installing a new version of Fedora 17 on a hacked PS3 so I'm not totally living in a new technology free cave ;) Have fun.. 4am is time for me to go to bed
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EF, 1 Jun 2012 @ 12:37pm

Today's lesson
An Apple foul play
keeps innovation at bay
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Goyo, 1 Jun 2012 @ 1:12pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Linux users (and wannabes) are to blame for M$ supremacy too, they keep giving their money to companies making propietary narrowly licensed windows-only software and then run it on wine or windows. So these comanies have the money anyway, why should they increase increase the development effort?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 1:52pm

Re: Re: Apple is a CULT
Anticultists?
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 3:14pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"Pretending that the old way is better than the new way because the old way is older is pretty much how all the big media companies think, you know."

The difference is G, others, and myself have made decisions about what our phone is to be.
I am willing to bet that we spend a stupid amount of time tethered to a computer, doing things that would suck especially on a 4-7 inch screen.
I don't find myself several times a week rebooting my newest bestest smartphone to solve some stupid bug that users have just learned to accept. I watch my coworkers do it and its funny.
A phone is just a phone, and while its awesome it can be your compass, GPS, camera, Facebook lifeline, etc... I just need/want a phone, not some overloaded piece of tech that costs more than my last PC hardware upgrade, and charges me inkjet ink prices for data.

No one way is better, well except I don't have to wait months for a bug to be fixed in my phones OS that might not get fixed because they want me to buy the new widget that will have its own bugs that will last until widget 3.0 launches. Don't think that because I shun smartphones that I think like the cartels.

What I find sad is there is a market for old style "dumb" phones, but everyone wants newer better faster... and that sounds good until you have to watch a 60 yr old completely frustrated just trying to answer a call.

New tech is cool, but if the consumer will never use 95% of the features it can do isn't it a waste?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:00pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Agreed again. You both are making very good points.
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IrishDaze (profile), 1 Jun 2012 @ 8:29pm

Re: Mike... you are WRONG!
FYI - The "Apple Foxconn Factory Atrocities" story has been shown to be largely false.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/ieconomy/acclaimed-apple-critic-made-details
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hmm (profile), 2 Jun 2012 @ 7:01am

truth
The truth is Apple isn't "becoming" evil. It always has been evil.

When Steve Jobs died, the company went on a spree across the internet getting people to say how nice he was, a saint, a perfect soul, a genius etc.

All he did was take other peoples ideas and combine them. thats it. nothing special.

The rest of the company is exactly like the RIAA/MPAA and other Hollywood scum in that it's only purpose is to make money and screw the users.

Apple has a history of going UP in popularity then spectacularly collapsing again.
The only difference is this time, Apple has enough cash reserves and is well on the way to becoming the biggest patent troll that doesn't produce a single thing anyone wants......which isn't good.
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CrushU, 2 Jun 2012 @ 10:54am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Joe, if it's true that once you got a smartphone you haven't used your computer, then it is more likely to be true that you never 'needed' a computer in the first place, and it was just a stand-in for the not-yet-existent smartphone.

I have a dumb phone, so old and non-name brand that all I know is that it's a Motorola phone. :) But my desktop is capable of running new games (Diablo 3) at high settings without stuttering. I also possess a laptop. I don't need the highly mobile computing of a smartphone. ... Yet.

I've recently started judging some Magic: the Gathering tournaments, and being able to look up other rulings or errata while wandering around the tables is proving to be a necessity, so I will likely be getting a smartphone in the near future. And it will mostly just be used for that.

You use what you need... A lot of people didn't 'need' a computer, but before smartphones, computers were the only way to access the internet.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 2 Jun 2012 @ 11:19am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You're right. Since I stopped playing WoW, I haven't needed my computer. It's a laptop, but for all intents and purposes, it's a headless server. The only thing I do with it is stream media to one of my two Google TVs, or my Android phone, or my Android tablet. If I need a "real" browser, I use my chromebook.

It may be anecdotal, but I have noticed that it is easy to go without a smartphone until you have a smartphone. After that, you get so used to having nearly constant, instant access to most of the world's knowledge (and cat videos!) that it's impossible to go back to not having it. At least, judging from the people who said they "didn't need a smart phone" who I convinced to get one anyway. That's what I don't get about the people who insist they don't need a smart phone; it sounds, to me, the same way it would sound if someone said they didn't need running water; of course not, but it sure makes things so much easier.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2012 @ 5:10pm

Re: The problem with building on other people's platform
Ummm... Ubuntu and apt? replicant?(free as in speech android)
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Seegras (profile), 4 Jun 2012 @ 7:35am

Re: Re: Re: Reinstall
Did I mention that I consider these multiple "Re:"s a sickness?

As are reinstalls.

I can't remember when I last reinstalled my system. Even when I switched to a bigger harddrive, I just rsync'ed it over, ran grub, booted from the new harddisk and continued working. I probably run the same, constantly upgraded, Debian GNU/Linux since 2002. And with Ubuntu it's just the same.

Anyway, yes, wine sometimes needs higher trickery to get a specific game to run, but in the whole, most windows-games just run. Speed is decent, and most speed-related problems I had turned out to be caused by older grafic-cards not supporting the newest features.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Aug 2012 @ 7:49pm

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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